The two-day WIFFMC 2012 opens at the Gulf Hotel on Sunday under the theme "New Growth Horizons: Expanding The Global Footprint of Islamic Funds and Investments". It will again set the stage for industry leaders to gather to showcase cutting edge innovations and also address the key enablers that will boost growth in the international Islamic funds and investments industry.

It will bring together leading players, industry thought leaders and key regulators in the international Islamic funds and investments industry for discussions that will seek to capitalise on the new opportunities and chart the future direction of the global Sharia-compliant funds and investments industry.

The testimonials from key industry leaders further confirm the overall significance of WIFFMC 2012 as the meeting place of choice for the key decision makers in the global Sharia-compliant investments industry,

"The increasing interest in Islamic finance in major markets across the globe presents a unique opportunity of expanding the global footprint of the Islamic investments industry," said Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) executive director of financial institutions supervision Abdul Rahman Al Baker, who will be a keynote speaker at the event.

"It is therefore important to ensure that the Islamic funds and investment industry has solid and strong foundations for future development and growth," he added.

"In addition to enhancing the innovations of new Islamic instruments and encouraging more spending in research and development, it is also essential that the Islamic financial institutions develop strategic alliances with other financial institutions globally, especially in the area of products structuring and offering.

"Formation of such alliances will help to achieve economies of scale and improve the services across the Islamic funds and investment industry," he said.

and improve the services across the Islamic funds and investment industry," he said. CBB is once again delighted to be hosting this prestigious event," he added.

"Whilst investors are now aware of the wide choice of Sharia investment products available in the market, they should now learn to appreciate the benefits that come along with Sharia investing," said CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management executive director Datuk Noripah Kamso.

"There has also been articulation by investors that the asset classes made available to the investors are not as broad and deep as what is made available to them in the conventional investment space. "This concern could be the result of lack of visibility of the track record of these investment products by virtue that the various asset classes are structured using home-based currencies for their domestic sandbox.

"I hope that the above concerns will be answered at this year's conference and I am delighted to be part of this important gathering of international investment leaders."